Still Here, Still Not Giving Up
by Narwhals Forever
Summary: It wasn't that he didn't want to move on. He still had work to do.


Hey all! After watching Big Hero 6 (which is my favorite CGI Disney movie of all time) I was inspired by Baymax's recurring line, "Tadashi is here." I feel like Baymax isn't too far off. Tadashi is there, Hiro just can't hear or see him.

Maybe it's cheesy, maybe not, I just like that idea. Anyway, please read this little one-shot and tell me what you think.

Enjoy!

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><p>It wasn't that he didn't want to move on. He had work to do.<p>

It was an obligation and an obsession, a passion and a need. It was on par with all the countless all-nighters pulled and the gallons of coffee he consumed while working on robotics projects in his life. It reminded him a little of creating Baymax, actually. He had always been very devoted to anything he was working on, but Baymax was one of the two projects he had been most determined to finish. Baymax, however, he had finished to great success, and was currently recharging up in his former room. The other project, the one that still needed tinkering, was sitting across the café, joking and laughing with his friends.

Tadashi stood by the counter where the plates of glazed doughnuts and pastries winked at him through the glass of the display case. He smiled a little. It made him happy to see his little brother finally prying himself away from the computer and hanging with actual people.

Across the café, Gogo and Hiro were sniggering at Ms. Sanchez sitting at the counter, who was agan wearing very age-inappropriate clothes in public (good Lord, Tadashi felt his eyes wither from the sight of an eighty-two-year-old in a tube top and skirt with a slit so high it shouldn't be legal). Wasabi was deep in conversation with Honey Lemon, who was sipping her tea and listening brightly and attentively to everything he was saying. Fred sat at the head of the table, not saying anything but eyeing the last chocolate doughnut with a predatory gaze.

Finally, after what Tadashi felt like years of unflinching eye contact between man and doughnut, Fred reached for the pastry and picked it up. With a snake-like opening of the jaw, Fred opened his mouth wider than previously thought possible and shoved the entire thing into his mouth. He swallowed the thing in one gulp (how did he do that without choking?!) and smiled in satisfaction at the four other people at his table, who were now staring at him.

Tadashi gaped in sheer amazement. Sure, Fred was odd and sometimes disgusting to watch but _dang_ it if he wasn't impressive. After a brief moment of shock and awe, Tadashi started laughing. Hiro cracked up at about the same time.

"That…was…sick!" Hiro gasped, clutching the sides of the chair so that he didn't fall off. Tadashi wasn't sure whether he meant the 'cool' sick or the 'gross' sick, but given the context it worked either way, so it didn't matter.

Wasabi was not as impressed. "That is disgusting!" He cried, horrified. "Do you have no table manners whatsoever?"

Fred replied with a satisfied belch.

Tadashi doubled over laughing at Wasabi's disgusted expression. Hiro lost his grip and actually fell off the chair, clutching his sides and gasping for air. If Baymax had been there and asked what Hiro's rate of pain was on a scale of one to ten, he probably wouldn't even have been able to answer, he was laughing so hard.

Gogo rolled her eyes and removed her gum from her mouth to take a quick sip of her coffee before popping the wad back in her mouth again. Honey Lemon, sweet thing she was, got up and helped Hiro up from the floor, grinning.

"You all right, hermano?" She asked.

Hiro, who was still incapable of speech, nodded.

Tadashi didn't need to catch his breath anymore, was able to recover pretty quickly. He grinned widely as he watched Wasabi get up from his seat.

"Come on, guys," Wasabi said, casting one last disgusted glance at Fred. "We're going to be late."

"See, now that's why you guys should invent a teleportation device, like in Space Heroes episode 3," Fred pulled a rolled up comic book out of his pocket and waved it in Wasabi's face. "Where you could just be beamed up and taken to your school in like, three seconds. So much less time, and it would totally be eco-friendly."

Wasabi swatted the comic book away. "That's not science, Fred."

"It so is!" Fred said. "Remember? Krei developed some teleport-thingy and it worked pretty well. Well, for a bit, it didn't exactly work out in the-"

"Will you shut up?" Wasabi hissed, nodding at Hiro, who had stopped laughing. "What is wrong with you?"

"Ooh, shoot," Fred said. "Sorry."

Tadashi bit his lip, looking over at his brother, whose expression was unreadable as he stared at the floor. Any hint of the happiness he had been showing before was gone, but there wasn't any sadness there either, just a sort of creepy emptiness in his face.

Honey Lemon patted Hiro reassuringly on the shoulder, but Hiro didn't look up or respond.

The friends were silent for a second. The background chatter of the other coffee shop customers was the only noise that could be heard between them.

Gogo broke the silence. "Come on. Let's go already."

Wasabi and Fred murmured agreement and quickly made for the door. Gogo followed them outside. Through the window, Tadashi could see Gogo catch up to Fred and give him a not-so-subtle punch in the arm.

"You idiot," she yelled at him.

"OW! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Came Fred's guilty reply.

Tadashi turned back to Honey Lemon and Hiro. Gently, she bent down and gave Hiro a one armed hug, casual and friendly, but still reassuring. A hint of a smile returned to Hiro's face, but not much.

"Everything is going to be fine," she whispered to Hiro. She pulled away, patting him on the shoulder. "Get your lunch and we'll meet you outside, okay, hermano?"

"Yeah." Hiro grinned back at Honey Lemon, who returned the smile and walked out the door.

A barely-visible blush highlighted Hiro's cheeks, but nothing that years of big brother facial expression reading couldn't detect. Tadashi had a serious hunch that his little bro had a bit of a crush on Honey Lemon. It would never happen, as he knew Honey Lemon thought of Hiro as a baby brother and anyway, she was way too old for him. But still. It was a little cute.

The blush faded and Hiro's expression went back to its creepy emotionlessness. He began to trudge over to he counter, where Aunt Cass had set his bag lunch.

Tadashi followed closely behind Hiro, gliding through a few tables and an overcaffinated, stressed-out businessman's computer, causing the laptop to glitch slightly (the businessman shrieked and shook the computer frantically, begging the laptop to not cut out on him).

Hiro grabbed the bag lunch off the counter and held it limply at his side, staring at the ground. Tadashi floated to a stop in front of him.

It hurt to see his brother like this. He wanted to scream at him, shake him, let him know what Baymax tried to say by telling him that "Tadashi is here." He wanted to hug his little brother and tell him, "I am here, Tadashi is here, I am here!" But he couldn't.

Tadashi bent down and looked into his brother's face. Into the eyes that couldn't see him.

He had seen how his death had affected Hiro. In the early days, when he had stuck around just to make sure Hiro took the adjustment well, he had watched his little bro go through the depression, the refusing to eat, the almost giving up. Tadashi had watched the poor kid holed up in his room for days, wanting to grab him by the shoulders and yell, "I'm still here. Did you really think I'd just leave you by yourself?" But any of the times he'd actually tried that, Hiro had shivered and gone to turn up the thermostat.

So Tadashi had helped him out a little bit. He had loosened the screws on that bot to fall on Hiro's foot. He had hoped and prayed that, in a small bout of pain, Hiro would say "ow!" and then his medic-bot would come and give Hiro the help that he couldn't. And it had worked. He watched the whole thing unfold, watching carefully.

Yes, he'd seen what Hiro had tried to do to Callaghan. Tadashi got over that quickly, admitting that it was his own fault that he died, but he could deal with that knowing that he died trying to do the right thing. But he had not at all expected Hiro's reaction. He still wasn't sure what to think of that…it disturbed him. And made him feel horribly guilty. After all, it was his death, his actions, that caused Hiro to feel that way in the first place, right? It was because of him.

He thanked God he had invented Baymax and he had introduced Hiro to all his great friends who had helped him. But it had shaken him enough to make him want more than ever to keep a close eye on his little brother. Especially now, with this whole superhero thing he was doing, Tadashi felt that it was his responsibility to offer a light touch, a whisper or two, fervent prayer, anything he could do to possibly keep Hiro on the right track. He had made him a promise, after all. He wasn't going to leave his brother alone to fend for himself.

"I'm not, you know," Tadashi whispered softly. He reached out an intangible hand and brushed the side of Hiro's face. "I'm not giving up on you.'

Hiro looked up, and for a second Tadashi swore Hiro was looking right at him. A small, reassured smile tugged at the corners of Hiro's mouth.

He dashed away after his friends, leaving a confused Tadashi in his wake. There's no way Hiro could have heard him. Could he?

Maybe or maybe not. Tadashi smiled as he watched Hiro emerge into the daylight through the window, scrambling into Wasabi's waiting car. Whther or not Hiro had heard him through some amazing miracle didn't matter, Tadashi decided. He was simply telling the truth. He wasn't giving up on his brother. Ever.


End file.
